First Look: Marzocchi Bomber CR Coil Shock

Finding a shorter stroke coil shock used to be a tricky proposition – there simply weren't many options available in non-DH bike sizes. That's changed over the last few years, fueled by the demands of riders looking to maximize the descending capabilities of their trail bikes. Marzocchi is joining in on the coil craze with the release of the Bomber CR, which is intended to be a simple, reliable, and relatively affordable option.

If the Bomber CR looks familiar, that's because it's a slightly modified version of a Fox Vanilla RC. Fox's efforts are now focused on their highest end, top tier products, while Marzocchi is concentrating on the workhorse products, the ones that aren't quite as adjustable, and may be a little heavier, but can get the job done without a fuss.

Previously, the Vanilla RC was available aftermarket, but the sizes and availability were limited, due to the fact that it was positioned as more of an OEM option. With the Bomber CR that's no longer the case, and there are a wide range of metric and standard size available, everything from a trunnion mounted 185x52.5mm up to a 225x75mm version.

The Bomber CR is priced at $299 for the shock and $29.95 for the spring, and is available now.

Simplicity is the name of the game with the Bomber CR - low speed compression, rebound, and spring preload are the only external adjustments.

Features

The Bomber CR is about as simple as it gets. There's a gold knob to adjust the low speed compression, and a red one for the rebound, and that's it. Once you have the correct weight spring in place there shouldn't be much fiddling required before hitting the trail. Constant tinkers may want more adjustability, but the Bomber CR is aimed at the set-and-forget crowd. After all, there's something to be said about not needing to worry if one more click of high speed compression or rebound damping would make things better.

The external adjustments are simple, but things are slightly more complex when you look at a cutaway image of the shock. According to Marzocchi, there's a high flow piston inside the Bomber's reservoir, which is backed by backed by Belleville washers. Those conical spring washers are meant to allow for a much higher flow of oil once a certain pressure is reached, keeping the shock responsive and composed even during repeated hard impacts. The shock also has a mid valve that provides even more damping support during those big hits. More than likely, most riders will get along just fine with the stock tune of the Bomber CR, but the shim based design does make custom tuning a possibility.

184 Comments

cue all the wankstains bemoaning this 'inferior' offering to shocks and equipment costing twice or three times as much whilst completely missing the damn point.. I welcome affordability in a sport that has jumped the shark with its pricing in the last 10 years. Nice work Marzocchi, your efforts and price points are NOT lost on myself and thousands of riders who cant justify the cost or need to keep up with the Gwin's out there.

@makripper: on the other hand I've got one on my bike that's 13 years old this year... Still going strong and serviced as expected. Anecdotal evidence like yours granted, but there's two sides to a story. I do agree that sometimes we buy cheap and regret it but it's not always like that, and this press release should be welcomed I think. If it's not for you and you can afford £700 for a shock or whatever then that's great- not everyone can or can justify that. See above.

@nickkk: it came stock on my bike and I thought it would be fine. I blew the seals enough times and ruined enough rides that I replaced it with a vivid r2c coil at the time which was pretty cheap too but didn't have the same issues

It'd be good to know if they improved the piggyback neck's compression assembly compared to the Van RC. The compression valving there was very archaic, becoming harsh and somewhat clicky on the return valve mechanism at mid to high levels of damping. There was also an un-anodized main piston to save costs, which I wonder if they kept - it certainly would follow Marzocchi tradition, though not welcome. In any case it would be great if Fox shared what if anything they improved over the Van. It wasn't bad shock by any means and I think cheaper options AND coil options are more than welcome! Hopefully it's decent.

This product makes perfect sense to me with the current direction of the brand. Use the quality engineering background of FOX. Remove some of the adjustability. Make it a bit heavier/burlier. Make it something you can beat the hell out of without worrying about it or needing to adjust it. Kind of an everyman's brand. Make stuff that works at a reasonable price when compared to the competition.

Everyone know's that Marzocchi is part of FOX. Kind of time to let that go and move on.

I think as time goes on we'll see refinement and tech trickle into the Marzocchi brand that continues to make it a very good option for most folks. Not everyone is dropping $7500 on a bike and $2k in suspension to update it 6 months later.

@onemanarmy: no... i don't have a problem with them releasing a shock. this is as exciting and life changing as new valve stem or Team announcements. Honestly, if Athertons end up on Cannondale I will die a bit inside, I do hope they will be riding Haibike. We deserve some excitement...

@WAKIdesigns: then why the f bother commenting if it's so underwhelming to you?! Have you got anything else of use to add other than pointing out a part of the former company's already well reported reliability issues- itself an issue almost a decade old. Take a breath before typing this pish. Do us a favour.

@makripper: that's unfortunate- we can't verify that this represents a wholesale issue with all fox shocks or indeed the Van RC. There appears to be more evidence of it being a longstanding proven performer. Perhaps you ride really hard, never had it serviced or didnt have it set up correctly or both. Or none of those things. Who knows. It's not a reflection on an entire line of products that yours failed. It happens. If I had been in your position, I too would have been wary but for the record, the only shock I ever blew apart was due to mechanical ineptitude on my part and poor maintenance. The 'just riding along' meme exists in workshops for a reason..!

cue all the shredders that love whatever bike they have underneath them talking about how good their old bikes feel...I absolutely love to ride my 26 Pitch and it feels like it keeps up with my 27.5 Reign no problem...now I just need that sick looking shock to go with the bomber...gonna look so clean!

@WAKIdesigns: what? Correct me if I'm wrong but werent you just merrily trashing a new product dragging up issues from a decade ago that are not relevant? I am aware fox shocks can be OEM parts. What part of that was I arguing? Besides NEITHER OF US HAVE ANYTHING BETTER IN OUR LIVES THAN ARGUING ABOUT MOUNTAIN BIKE COMPONENTS AND YOU KNOW IT.

@WAKIdesigns: coming from a guy who obviously spends more time on the computer than riding. Back in the day you had rockshox, and they were a joke. Kind of like waki. Then you had marzocchi. And you could ride without worry. Im glad fox revamped marz. If it makes waki shit bricks, i am still happy!

@Subhumanz: yes I type more than I ride. It’s winter. I have a job, kids and i work out. And actually I feel no will to go into the woods for 2-3 more months. Slalom between cones in a garage building and jumping over concrete blocks, occasional visits to pumptrack and Dj site feels much better. Should I tak down to you feeling elitist about it? Now that we have my personal life out of the way, I want to say that I just found it hilarious to see people argue about a low end shock as if it was the second coming of Christ. Shimano does not do press releases of Deore. Does DHX4.0 go to sht sometimes? Yes. Like X2.

@Smokey79: Love it, when someone says they work out, he'll get the "pics or it didn't happen", when you post them, they will tell you that you show off and even accuse you of using fake weights. You can find me on insta under same nick and no I don't lift much, I also can't do too many pull ups or pushups in 20 seconds, haven't completed 10k calorie challenge either.

@dobermon: buying this as an aftermarket shock is weird in the first place, paying more than 100$ is laughable. Rear shock is one of the most important bits in the whole bike, if you can lash out 300 for that, you better save for 2 months more and buy something better. This shock is either bobbing your quads away or gives you microconcussions. It works only in the open mode and only on suspension designs with enough progression. Unless you want to lash out 100-200 for Pushing it, which means you get yourself a CCDB or at least RC4.

@dobermon: I rode this shock on at least 3 bikes, I owned the more adjustable version of it for 5 years. It’s a pogo stick of the past age not worth than 200$ of MSRP, I’d rather run Monarch RT3 for few bucks more than what they are asking. Both are pogo sticks but one is 1 pound lighter

Lol I got the Push 11-6 ....and no- it doesnt do any wonders at all.
Should of spend money on a used Manitou Revox or Marzocchi Coil with Bottom Out Adjust.
Youre far far better off with a custom shim stack on a cheap shock.

@friendlyfoe: Mate: Firstly the shock came with a DH and Climb valve setting. I wanted an open DH mode and a harder flowtrail mode- but no spending over 1200€ (yeah that is over 1400 USD) isnt enough to get right valves.. Im still pissed af. Could of gotten every coil shock with a climb switch for that. And I waited 5 weeks for it instead of the adverted 2.

Secondly Ive ridden a CCDB Air, Manitou Swinger Expert, FOX DHX RC2 and RC4 and Im not able to spot the difference... and I bet my ass that you would too.

Im replacing it with a used 120€ X Fusion Vector Air and see how it goes.

@rideone62: avalanche is great but i just cant do craig, im pretty stubborn, especially when it comes to how i want my suspension set-up and hes pretty stubborn on how he wants to set his suspension up for you, but after going up a spring rate and some tuning, its butter but still takes more than quite a bit to bottom, honestly though i loved my marzocchi roco tst r, and the fox dhx 5 with the bigger rebound shaft

No doubt. A custom shim stack can totally change the way a shock performs. Might be the cheaper end of fox as some people are saying, but I think I remember something called a grip damper being a cheaper offering from fox once too, and then everyone loved how it performed.

@makripper: just want to form a sincere apology for the shock that you blew up multiple years ago. Hope you aren't still stuck in the past and are able to wake up and see the fact that a multi million dollar company might actually have the ability to make some form of advancement in their own products.

I had the Marzocchi C2R shock that came out in 2014 and it was one of the best feeling shocks I've ridden. Very adjustable and looked great too. Hope Marzocchi is able to get back on its feet eventually and not just be a cheaper version of Fox

When they were bought by Fox I was hoping that marzocchi would just become the high-end coil option to Fox’s high-end air. Eg. High end coil: Marzocchi Z1 ti (ti coil, high/low compression/rebound)High end air: Fox 36 factory (grip 2, high/low compression/rebound).

While I’m disappointed its not going that route. It is great to see quality affordable options!

Craig at Avalanche has always said the Fox Van RC shock was a good platform to get good results with custom guts and tuning. If he opts to work on this shock, you'll get something that's overall cheaper and better than anything else out there.

So the most important part of this entire article has been ignored by everybody in the comment section. When is Rocky Mountain going to build me a Pipe dream? In the exact same colours as Wade has? This is the most awesome bike I have seen in years, and they won't build it. Too many people so keen on carbon fibre. Build me the Pipe dream.

It’s great to see Marzocchi has a shock back in its lineup but it’s a shame it’s just a rebranded Fox Van RC and why is there no 9.5x3” available? You would think they’d offer that size for the base model DH bikes!

I left the climb switch on my fox X2 and wondered why I couldn't stay on the bike. Only realised after the 3rd crash when I badly smacked myself up.
I think I would easily get by on a supposedly lesser shock seeing as Im so insensitive.

A great thing about this is that parts should be compatible with the venerable RC4, so for those out there still running and loving the RC4 (particularly the small shaft version), this should mean different size options, bodies, sealheads, and shafts which should all (very likely) mate with the RC4 main pistons and neck/piggyback assemblies. Woohoo!

@thenotoriousmic: it's a great fork. I have a fox 36 with fit4 on another bike and as far as riding I can feel the grip 2 in the bomber have allot better small bump sensitivity and the bomber is definitely stiffer. Probably due to the added weight of the fork. Beefier lowers I believe

@FR33DOMdotCOM: just going purely by how it feels and how many volume tokens I had to remove from my shock when taking it off another bike (cirrect damping tune) having tried different shocks in mine compared to many other bikes I've ridden.... or you can look at fancy charts and talk waffle

Really nice to see an affordable non metric option. But the old rc rode like shit. I had it with me as spare shock in pds and i actually needed it and it performed so much worse than the evenly priced vivid it replaced on the same track, same day. It just blew through and because of that felt harsh. Rebound wasn‘t ideal either (basically like all overhyped fox shit until 2016). Hope they changed the stock setup big time...

@Mondbiker: Ahhh, you getting f*cked from exchange rates and imports? Cause its the other way around here. Ti any more reliable? I think these SLS are wallowing out stupid fast, and fox is just not caring

@kmg0: fox SLS I have (came with the frame) seems to be fine so far but I don´t have high expectations from what I have read pretty much everywhere, good sls spring should last for years or even lifetime. If you wan´t to find perhaps the best sls spring for great price, go to extremeshox website, they do 2 for the price of 1 till the end of month so better hurry if you want really sweet deal.

@MarzocchiMTB : I absolutely LOVE this, FINALLY an affordable high quality coil. I just purchased one. thanks Marzocchi for looking out for the starving student. I cant say thanks enough, other companies need to keep this in mind. well done *clap *clap *clap!!!!!!!!!

Ah....In China some marzocchi'lovers' will now believe marzocchi is just low level fox now.A guy had said z1 is better than 36factory...What should i say
maybe he can change his float x2 into this one
Marzocchi is now not Marzocchi!

Hey Capra owners: buy one of these, get a custom tune and your bike will be sooooo much better. Unless you ride pro fast and need as much progression as a Capra + air spring provides, in which case rock on!!! For the rest of us there has not been an affordable 230x65 coil.

Im wondering if you can install the climb switch that fox sales...? Marzocchi and fox are kinda the same brand now, so maybe you can install the CS. That would be an epic shock in terms of price and quality